A/N: For some reason, I tend to finish my chapters at 3 in the morning. Oh well. Thanks for any and all reviews/follows/favorites/etc! :)
Everyone begins to climb down the rope ladder but Miranda finds herself having troubles. She was never good at ladders. Or rope. So rope ladders don't equal a good combination for her. "You okay?" The Doctor calls up, watching her struggle to get down.
"Course I'm okay," Miranda lies as she's slowly making her way down the stupid rope ladder. She curses when she slips on the rope and it burns her hands.
"You sure?" The Doctor masks his urge to laugh before coming over to lend her a hand. She reluctantly takes his hand, not prepared for when he jerks their hands and she goes tumbling off the ladder and into his arms.
"Don't ever do that again!" Miranda warns him, her brown eyes wide and mouth slightly agape.
"I promise," the Doctor says with a cheery smile, laughing at her facial expression. He places a kiss on her forehead before setting her feet on the ground and letting her go. Miranda glares at him when his back his turned, ignoring the burning sensation on her forehead from the small insignificant kiss.
"Do we have a gravity globe?" The Doctor asks the clerics as he saunters away from her, the moment passed.
"Grav globe." A Cleric hands the globe to him.
"Where are we? What is this?" Amy stares at the wide expanse of darkness before them.
"Aplan Mortarium. The Maze of the Dead. Spooky catacombs," Miranda answers, eyeing a nearby statue hiding in the dark. She makes the 'I'm watching you' gesture at it, turning away from the statues to stand closer to the group.
"What's that?" Amy asks.
The Doctor turns the grav glob over in his hands. "Well, if you happen to be a creature of living stone..." He kicks the globe into the air, where it illuminates a vast array of mausoleums and statuary. "The perfect hiding place."
"I guess this makes it a bit trickier," Octavian says.
"A bit, yeah." The Doctor agrees.
"A stone Angel on the loose amongst stone statues. A lot harder than I'd prayed for," Octavian admits.
"A needle in a haystack," River comments, shining her light over a few statues.
"A needle that looks like hay. A hay-like needle of death. A hay-like needle of death in a haystack of, er, statues. No, yours was fine," the Doctor rambles. He turns to Miranda when he hears her gasp for air. She's failing at muffling her laughter at this point. She mouths to him, 'Really?' He huffs at her and turns away, ignoring Amy's laugh at Miranda's reaction.
"Right. Check every single statue in this chamber. You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection. One question. How do we fight it?" Octavian orders his Clerics before turning to the Doctor.
"We find it, and hope," the Doctor replies before moving on past him. Miranda rolls her eyes at his answer. Not quite that easy. In fact, it was all going to go downhill from here.
"They don't know yet, do they? Who and what you are." Octavian says as he stops River from moving. Miranda overhears them and starts to rack her brain for this particular conversation. He said 'they'. That wasn't right. The want to stomp over and correct them or to get answers was overwhelming but she stood her ground. She awkwardly stands nearby, trying not to look too obvious that she's listening in.
"It's too early in his time stream," River answers.
"What about her?" Octavian discreetly gestures to Miranda, who manages to avoid their stares.
"She knows everything. But I'm afraid there's one part of the story she doesn't know," River admits, watching Miranda carefully tiptoe away from them. Miranda tries getting her face under control, shutting her eyes and covering her mouth with her hand in order stop herself from blurting out 'what part of the story?'.
"Well, make sure they don't work it out, or they're not going to help us," Octavian warns her, his face serious. After that, Miranda refuses to hear any more and tunes them out. She vaguely hears Amy and River talk about the Maze of the Death but doesn't participate in their conversation, mind occupied with the possibilities of what River could mean behind 'one part of the story she doesn't know'.
"There, you see. I lied. It's a viro-stabilizer. Stabilizes your metabolism against radiation, drive burn, anything. You're going to need it when we get up to that ship," River explains the shot she gave Amy. Seeing that Miranda was distracted, River sneaks up behind her and injects the viro-stabilizer in her arm. Miranda shouts in surprise, the Doctor looking over his shoulder at her with a worried expression. She waves him off.
"Seriously?" Miranda stares at River in disbelief, rubbing her arm from the shot. That's what she gets for not paying attention. River just flashes her a smile and walks away back to Amy. Stupid River.
After Amy's laughter dies down and she sees that Miranda is out of earshot, she asks River, "So what are they like? In the future, I mean. Because you know them in the future, don't you?"
"The Doctor? Well, the Doctor's the Doctor," River says carefully with zero emotions, face blank and calculating. "And Miranda. Oh, Miranda. Well, she's just Miranda."
Miranda's ears perk up at the sound of her name being said three times but doesn't look back at the gossiping pair. She already knows what they're talking about anyway. Except the part about her. That's new too. Miranda heads over to where the Doctor is standing and helps him turn his handheld device the right way before River can comment on it.
"Oh. Well, that's very helpful. Mind if I write that down?" Amy says sarcastically, frowning at the non-answers she receives.
"Yes, we are," River says, looking over at the Doctor and Miranda.
"Sorry, what?" The Doctor asks, still pretending to be busy with his handheld device. Miranda turns her back on them, covering her growing smile with her hand.
"Talking about you two."
"I wasn't listening. I'm busy," the Doctor shows her the device he's working on, waving it in the air the right way around.
"Right. What he said." Miranda grabs his arm and lowers it to her level, wanting to see what he's working on. There were letters and numbers and who knows what else floating around on the screen. Miranda chalks it up as a bunch of space nonsense when she can't decipher its meaning right away and lets go of his arm. She catches the look in his eye and doesn't like what she sees. So many questions wanting to be asked and a myriad of growing conflicts were hidden behind his ancient eyes. Miranda breaks eye contact and steps a foot away from him.
"You're so his wife," Amy says smugly, absolutely convinced of this fact ever since River entered the TARDIS.
"Oh, Amy, Amy, Amy. This is the Doctor we're talking about. Do you really think it could be anything that simple?" She spares Miranda a glance.
"Yep."
"You're good. I'm not saying you're right, but you are very good," River praises her, grinning away.
The Doctor closes the distance between him and Miranda. "What's wrong?"
Now that's a dangerous question. There were lots of things wrong. The currently growing army of Weeping Angels. The fact that she still doesn't know how she got here in the first place. Her current form of traveling via time vortex and yet she lives? And why specifically her? Is she able to reveal certain truths, certain answers for the Doctor, to help him save the day faster? Would saving people who weren't able to be saved in the show cause a paradox? Certainly not all of the people who died on the show were meant to die, right? It was only because the Doctor wasn't able to get there fast enough or there wasn't enough time or whatever the reason. Besides isn't that the whole point of traveling with the Doctor? To save lives, save the day, save the world, save the universe, save everything. She wants to make sure it isn't just this once, but all the time, where everybody lives. But she can't blurt all this out to the Doctor. There's no one to turn to for advice.
All of her thoughts took her a few minutes to process and over think about and the Doctor noticed. He nudges her, worry written all over his face. Before he can repeat the question, Miranda says in the best reassuring voice she can muster, "Nothing. It's just the Weeping Angels. Bit spooky."
Something tells her that he didn't believe her lie. He looks ready to push the issue further but Miranda stops him, hopefully asking a simple question that would help her current dilemma. "If you knew something, knew that you could do something to help save a life...would you? I mean-"
"Miri, do you know something? Is it your limited omniscience?" The Doctor asks, seriousness set in his voice.
"Limited what?" Miranda furrows her eyebrows but then remembers something she read in her English text book. It referred to different writing style and the many types of narrators there are. Omniscient is when the narrator is "all-knowing" of every character and limited omniscient is when the narrator is only "all-knowing" about a small group of people. That could work for her. Now she doesn't have to worry so much about explaining how she knows everything or almost everything. No need to mention she comes from a world where they're all fake and part of a TV show. That could go wrong in so many ways.
"Oh, sorry. My limited 'all-knowing' psychic ability? Yeah, that's it." Miranda blurts out after figuring out what he meant. Maybe the psychic part was a bit much but she could just say she's a 'little psychic' from now for the short answer in case someone asks. Unless someone really pushes for the real answer. Then the omniscient explanation could be used.
"Miranda." He places his hands on her shoulders, lowering his head down to her level. "I know this is all new for you and it might take a while to understand. But whatever it is that you know, you can't tell me."
"What? Like at all? I can't say anything at all?" Miranda's hopes start to drop.
"No. You can tell me certain things. Just not everything and you have to put it in as few words as possible," the Doctor explains. "Because there are going to be times where you can't save everybody and their lives were meant to end there. It just is. But there are going to be other times where you'll be able to save certain people from certain death. Miranda, I trust you to know when those times are."
"I don't understand-" She shakes her head at him. He rests his forehead against hers and shuts his eyes for a moment. Miranda stands still, not daring to move an inch.
"I know. Don't worry, we'll get through this," the Doctor says before pulling her in a hug.
"But how can you trust me to know the difference? To know when it's a fixed point or if time is in flux or if time can be rewritten?" Miranda asks him, her words slightly muffled as she laid her head against his chest.
"I trust you. Completely. You'll understand one day," say the Doctor reassuringly. He gives her a pat on the back until he drops his arms from around her, the hug ending.
"Right," Miranda says, a little breathless. It's getting harder to concentrate and her heart is pounding through her chest, wanting to escape its cage. Never in her life did she expect those words to leave his mouth and for it to be directed towards her. The Doctor trusts her. Instead of a burden leaving her shoulders, more gets piled on. "So. Let's stop those Weeping Angels before they stop us."
The Doctor sees the fear she's trying hard to hide. She never seemed okay when the lonely assassins were around. "Believe me. I will never allow any harm to come to you. Not ever."
"Okay. I'll hold you to that," Miranda laughs a little, feeling a bit better about both of her situations involving how she can use her 'all-knowing' ability and the stone Angels. Suddenly they hear gunfire and Miranda nearly freezes at the sound. The Doctor grabs her hand and begins running. All of them catch up to the main group and see the young Cleric who shot up a statue.
"Sorry, sorry. I thought. I thought it looked at me." Miranda stops in her tracks when she remembers who the Cleric is. Is he someone she can save or someone doomed to die? The question is enough to make her want to tear her hair out in frustration.
"We know what the Angel looks like. Is that the Angel?" Octavian angrily points at the shot up Angel.
"No, sir," he says out of embarrassment. Miranda is forcing herself not to get mad at Octavian for this moment, knowing how he'll end up later on, caught and killed by a Weeping Angel.
"No, sir, it is not. According to the Doctor, we are facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil, so it would be good, it would be very good, if we could all remain calm in the presence of décor." Miranda had enough of him. She throws Octavian a glare as she walks up to the scared Cleric.
"Hey. What's your name?" Miranda asks with a small smile, despite already knowing his name.
"Bob, ma'am." The Doctor comes up beside her to help make the Cleric feel better.
"Ah, that's a great name. I love Bob," the Doctor says, his face beaming.
"It's a Sacred Name. We all have Sacred Names. They're given to us in the service of the Church," Bob explains with a small stutter.
"Sacred Bob. More like Scared Bob now, eh?" The Doctor says, nudging the two of them.
"Yes, sir."
"Ah, good. Scared keeps you fast. Anyone in this room who isn't scared is a moron. Carry on." The Doctor nods at Miranda and she's reminded of his previous words to her, how he'll never let any harm come to her. She wonders if she can do the same for him. Or for Bob.
"We'll be moving into the maze in two minutes. You stay with Christian and Angelo. Guard the approach," Octavian orders Sacred Bob.
Miranda bites her thumbnail, looking between Bob and the others. A part of her wants to protest, wants Octavian to reconsider. Another part wonders if Sacred Bob is supposed to become Angel Bob. Indecision makes the two minutes go by and the others are already leaving without her. Miranda runs up to Bob at the last second and grabs his arm to stop him. "Hey. Um. Could you-I mean...please be careful. Okay?"
"Of course, ma'am." Bob says, appreciative of the concern if albeit confused as to why.
"Right. Alright, see you later," Miranda squeezes his arm and leaves to join the others to enter the maze. She waves at him with a heavy heart, knowing that left him to his inevitable fate.
Miranda walks alongside the Doctor, remaining silent throughout the entire conversation that's going on around her, not once bothering to steal a line or join in to add something. The Doctor observes how suddenly she's gone silent, but not wanting to point it out in front of everybody else he instead takes her hand. Miranda pretends not to notice.
"Are we there yet? It's a hell of a climb," Amy complains, kicking a few rocks along the way.
"The Maze is on six levels, representing the ascent of the soul. Only two levels to go," River tells Amy.
"Lovely species, the Aplans. We should visit them some time," the Doctor says with a hint of excitement, looking to Amy for her opinion on the potential trip.
"I thought they were all dead?" Amy raises her eyebrow at him.
"So is Virginia Woolf. I'm on her bowling team. Very relaxed, sort of cheerful. Well, that's having two heads, of course. You're never short of a snog with an extra head." Miranda laughs a little at him and the Doctor grins, happy he was able to make her laugh despite the gloomy atmosphere they were in.
"Doctor, there's something. I don't know what it is," River says apprehensively, a sense of unease in the air.
"There's more than something," Miranda breaks out of her thoughts when she remembers what's about to happen next. "Doctor. If the Aplans have two heads..." She trails off, knowing he got the message.
"Oh." The Doctor looks down at her, seeing the horror plain as day on her face.
"What's wrong?" Amy asks, not knowing what they're talking about.
"Oh." River repeats after them, realizing the truth a moment later.
"Exactly." The Doctor squeezes her hand, wishing that her face would go back to normal.
"How could we have not noticed that?" River shines her torch on the statues.
"Low level perception filter." Miranda backs away from the statues slowly, letting go of the Doctor's hand.
"Or maybe we're thick." The Doctor goes to hold Miranda's hand again, not liking how empty their touch is, but his attention is diverted to Octavian.
"What's wrong, sir?" Octavian tightens his hold on his gun, looking to the Doctor for answers.
"Nobody move. Nobody move. Everyone stay exactly where they are. Bishop, I am truly sorry. I've made a mistake and we are all in terrible danger," the Doctor says lowly to him, not wanting Miranda to hear the anxiety in his voice.
"What danger?" Octavian glances between River and the Doctor but before either of them could open their mouths, Miranda steps in next to them.
"The Aplans have two heads," Miranda nods her head at the statues, trying her best not to let her voice waver or her teeth to clatter. Clara's words of wisdom come unexpectedly to her. "Fear makes companions of us all."She knows what's to come and reasons with herself to not let fear control her like last time when she was with Amy. A surge of confidence overtakes her, starting to feel comfort from the Doctor's promise that he won't allow harm to come to her. Even if never in a million years did she think she would have to go face to face with an army of Weeping Angels and hold the Doctor's hand, she was going to pretend and act like she belongs here.
"Yes, I get that. So?" Octavian's confusion makes her move in closer to the group.
"So why don't the statues?" Upon seeing that he got the message, Miranda steadies her nervous hands, clears her throat, and points to the alcove nearby that was away from the statues. "Everyone, move over there."
"Don't ask questions, don't speak," the Doctor says shortly after with a proud smile on, ushering everybody to follow Miranda.
"Okay, I want you all to switch off your torches." The Doctor tells everybody, keeping Miranda close beside him. "Just do it. Okay. I'm going to turn off this one too, just for a moment."
"Are you sure about this?" River asks, staring at the statues for any movement.
"No."
"Yes."
Miranda and the Doctor look at each other, their eyes wide. The light goes out then back on in an instant.
"Oh, my God. They've moved," exclaims Amy. The Doctor runs down the passage, all of them close by, and it's filled with statues coming towards them.
"They're Angels. All of them." The Doctor confirms their suspicions.
"But they can't be," River argues.
"Clerics, keep watching them." He runs back to look down at all the statues that are climbing up towards them. "Every statue in this Maze, every single one, is a Weeping Angel. They're coming after us."
"But there was only one Angel on the ship. Just the one, I swear," River tries to reason, disbelieving what she's hearing.
"Could they have been here already?" Amy pipes in, trying to help understand what's going on.
"The Aplans. What happened? How did they die out?" The Doctor and Miranda lock eyes, the truth clear as day to them.
"Nobody knows."
"We know," the Doctor and Miranda reply at the same time. Miranda begins to question if maybe they could go back in time to save the Aplan civilization from being hunted down by the Weeping Angels but knows deep down that they can't. Something about being a part of events, she figures.
"They don't look like Angels," Octavian points out to the others.
"And they're not fast. You said they were fast. They should have had us by now," Amy adds, crossing her arms.
"Look at them. They're dying, losing their form. They must have been down here for centuries, starving," the Doctor goes up next to Amy, helping her realize the danger they're in.
"Losing their image?" A light bulb goes off in her head.
"And their image is their power," Miranda says to them, putting emphasis on the word 'power'.
"Power? Power!" The Doctor waves his hands around before turning to Miranda and resting his hands on her shoulders, slightly shaking her with a grin. "Ah, my brilliant Miri."
"Doctor?" Amy tilts her head at them.
"Don't you see? All that radiation spilling out the drive burn. The crash of the Byzantium wasn't an accident, it was a rescue mission for the Angels. We're in the middle of an army, and it's waking up."
"We need to get out of here fast." River nods to Octavian.
"Bob, Angelo, Christian, come in, please. Any of you, come in," Octavian speaks into his walkie-talkie.
"It's Bob, sir. Sorry, sir." Miranda flinches at the sound of his voice, knowing that she's the reason he's dead and speaking to them.
"Bob, are Angelo and Christian with you? All the statues are active. I repeat, all the statues are active." When Octavian mentions the others names, she realizes she let them die too. It solidifies the immense pain of guilt burrowing away at her weak heart.
"I know, sir. Angelo and Christian are dead, sir. The statues killed them, sir," Angel Bob answers with zero emotion. The Doctor snatches Octavian's walkie-talkie out of his hands.
"Bob, Sacred Bob, it's me, the Doctor."
"I'm talking to-" Octavian starts but gets interrupted.
"Where are you now?"
"I'm talking to my-" Miranda bites her fingernail and turns away, not wanting to face Octavian.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up," the Doctor shushes Octavian, going back to talking with Bob.
"I'm on my way up to you, sir. I'm homing in on your signal." Miranda doesn't like how sinister he sounded.
"Ah, well done, Bob. Scared keeps you fast. Told you, didn't I. Your friends, Bob. What did the Angel do to them?" The Doctor gazes around him before stopping on Miranda's face. He sees the internal conflict she's having with herself, sees her biting away at her fingernails.
"Snapped their necks, sir."
"That's odd. That's not how the Angels kill you. They displace you in time. Unless they needed the bodies for something." Miranda goes up to Octavian and places a hand on his shoulder, knowing what he was going to say next. The Doctor looks at her questioningly and she slowly nods, confirming the fact that yes, the Angels do need the bodies for something.
"Tell me, Bob, how did you escape?"
"I didn't escape, sir. The Angel killed me, too." Miranda's hand tightens in response. Octavian looks down at her and carefully rests his hand over her's.
"What do you mean, the Angel killed you?"
"Snapped my neck, sir. Wasn't as painless as I expected, but it was pretty quick, so that was something."
"If you're dead, how can I be talking to you?" A feeling of dread creeps up his spine.
"You're not talking to me, sir. The Angel has no voice. It stripped my cerebral cortex from my body and re-animated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you. Sorry about the confusion."
"So when you say you're on your way up to us..." The Doctor trails off, curious for his answer.
"It's the Angel that's coming, sir, yes. No way out." At Bob's last response, Miranda's frown appears as she buries the sorrow and fear away and she uses her hand to push Octavian towards the exit.
"We can get out through the wreckage. Go! All of you run. Please." She orders them, ignoring the crack in her voice. Octavian nods at her before taking off with the rest of his men. Miranda turns to the Doctor before he can contact Angel Bob through the communicator. "Angel Bob is the one from the ship. The one we saw on the monitor. All the other Angels are still restoring."
The Doctor pulls Miranda towards him, clasping their hands together and the two begin to run. They pass Amy on the way and he calls out to her, "Don't wait for us. Go, run." Miranda stops him and drags him over to Amy.
"I can't. No, really, I can't." The fear in Amy's wavering voice makes the guilt she's feeling even stronger and she pushes it down with the rest of her feelings, not wanting to focus on it now.
"Why not?" The Doctor questions.
"Look at it. Look at my hand. It's stone," Amy cries to them, her hand frozen on the railing.
"You looked into the eyes of an Angel, didn't you?" He flashes his torch across her eyes.
"I couldn't stop myself. I tried."
"Amy, please. It's messing with your head. Your hand isn't made of stone." Miranda tells her firmly.
"It is. Look at it." Miranda can see the image of Amy's stone hand in the episode and sighs.
"It's in your mind, I promise you. You can move that hand. You can let go," the Doctor pleads with her, knowing from the look Miranda is giving him that they don't have much time left.
"I can't, okay? I've tried and I can't. It's stone."
"The Angel is going to come and it's going to turn this light off, and then there's nothing I can do to stop it, so do it. Concentrate. Move your hand." The torch starts to flicker, making Miranda's eyes widen.
"I can't," she whispers.
"Then we're going to die." Miranda quickly says, wanting to hurry up and get this entire thing over with. She's had enough of spooky catacombs and stone angels. "And not in a fun way either."
"You're not going to die. You two can't die," Amy swivels her head around to look at her in shock.
"They'll kill the lights," the Doctor reminds her.
"You've got to go. You know you have. You've got all that stuff with River and Miranda has all that stuff with you and that's all got to happen. You know you two can't die here," Amy insists.
"Time can be re-written. It doesn't work like that," the Doctor tells her, hoping she'll see reason. At his words, the statues arrive and Miranda doesn't react nearly as bad like last time.
"Keep your eyes on it. Don't blink," Miranda says lowly.
"Run!" Amy yells at them.
"We're not going anywhere without you," Miranda tells her, determined not to let Amy down again. It was her fault Amy was stuck in this position in the first place.
"I don't need you two to die for me. Do I look that clingy?" Miranda gets the Doctor's attention and mouths the words, 'Bite her hand.'
"Amy Pond, you are magnificent, and I'm sorry." He bites her hand and Miranda slaps her hand over her mouth, muffling her laughter, feeling slightly better over the situation with Amy and the angel in her eye.
"Ow!" Amy jerks her hand off the railing and glares at him.
"See? Not stone. Now run." All three of them go chasing after the others.
"You bit me," Amy cries, cradling her hand.
"Yeah, and you're alive." This time Miranda doesn't bother to cover up her laughs, much to the Doctor's delight.
"Look, I've got a mark. Look at my hand." Amy holds out her hand for them to see as they ran.
"Yes, and you're alive. Did I mention?"
"Blimey, your teeth. Have you got space teeth?" She rubs the spot where he bit her, still in shock.
"He does, actually, sort of like a vampire," Miranda answers with a small grin, earning herself a nudge from the Doctor.
When they make it back to the others, all of their torches and even the grav globe were flickering. Miranda assesses the situation. Angels draining the power. Statues surrounding them. Zero climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium.
"There's no way up, no way back, no way out. No pressure, but this is usually when you the two of you have a really good idea," River says to the pair, hands on her hips.
"There's always a way out," Miranda and the Doctor say at the same time, nodding at each other. A crackle from the communicator catches their attention.
"Doctor? Can I speak to the Doctor, please?"
"Hello, Angels. What's your problem?" The Doctor rolls his eyes, pressing the walkie-talkie up to his mouth.
"Your power will not last much longer, and the Angels will be with you shortly. Sorry, sir."
"Why are you telling me this?" The Doctor's furrow in confusion.
"There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end."
"Which is?"
"I died in fear."
"I'm sorry?" Miranda shuts her eyes, wringing her hands together, waiting to her Angel Bob's next words.
"You told me my fear would keep me alive, but I died afraid, in pain and alone. You made me trust you, and when it mattered, you let me down. And she knew. She knew all along what would happen to me. And yet she let me die, despite the care in her last words to me as she left me behind."
"What are they doing?" Amy whispers to River, watching the vary emotional responses between the Doctor and Miranda with interest. She looks close to tears, her mouth a thin line, and her jaw tense as she fights to keep her emotions at bay. His fury and anger were starting to bubble over the top, his gaze intense as he stares at Miranda.
"They're trying to make him angry and her guilty."
"I'm sorry, sir. The Angels were very keen for you to know that."
"Well then, the Angels have made their second mistake because I'm not going to let that pass. I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you, they will be sorrier," the Doctor replies, keeping his gaze concentrated on Miranda.
"What mistake, sir?"
"Trust me?" The Doctor breaks his stare with Miranda and turns to Amy.
"Yeah," Amy answers with a shrug, nodding at him.
"Trust me?" The Doctor faces River next.
"Always," River replies with a confident smile.
The Doctor goes over to Miranda and immediately embraces her, his chin resting on top of her head. "It's not your fault, Miri. I trust you, remember?" Miranda slowly nods against his chest, ignoring the feelings that were threatening to emerge. Hugging the Doctor felt absolutely surreal, like the moment happening between them was unreal and could never happen. Again, the Doctor could feel how empty their touch was. She was hugging a stranger and he was hugging a familiar friend who doesn't even know they're friends yet. "Now. Do you trust me?"
Miranda mulls over the question and doesn't answer right away, not quickly enough like the others. A quote from a past episode echoes in her mind. It was the one thing she kept repeating to herself in the years following meeting the Doctor for the first time, after seeing the Twelfth Doctor on her screen when the Eleventh regenerated. "I believe in you."
A wide smile appears at her words, the anger from earlier disappearing from view. He hugs her tightly one last time before releasing her and turning to the Clerics. "You lot, trust me? "
"We have faith, sir."
"Then give me your gun. I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous. When I do, jump!" The Doctor walks over him, holding his hand out.
Octavian hands over his gun with a puzzled look. "Jump where?"
"Just jump, high as you can. Come on, leap of faith, Bishop. On my signal."
"What signal?" He asks.
"You won't miss it," the Doctor and Miranda answer at the same time, smiles present on their faces.
"Sorry, can I ask again? You mentioned a mistake we made."
The Doctor points the gun at the hull of the Byzantium and Miranda waits for his next line with bated breath, her smile widening at being able to hear the Doctor make a small speech. "Oh, big mistake. Huge. Didn't anyone every tell you there's one thing you never put in a trap? If you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap."
"And what would that be, sir?"
"Me." A shot rings out. The fun now begins.